吃午饭
chī wǔfàn
To eat lunch in Chinese is 吃午饭 (chī wǔfàn).
The phrase is used to describe consuming a meal during the middle of the day. In Chinese, the verb 吃 (eat) is often used colloquially to mean 'to have' a meal, similar to how English speakers say 'have lunch'.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase 吃午饭 consists of 吃 (to eat), 午 (noon/midday) and 饭 (meal/rice).
How do you pronounce it?
chī wǔfàn
Did you know?
- Asking 你吃了吗? (Did you eat?) is often used as a general greeting similar to 'How are you?' rather than a literal question about your hunger.
- In many Chinese offices, people do not just 吃午饭 but also take a nap, known as 午睡, which is a widely accepted professional custom.
- In Chinese culture, it is common to use 吃 (eat) to describe consuming things that are not food, such as 吃药 for 'taking medicine'.
Examples in context
- 我们中午十二点半要一起吃午饭。We will eat lunch together at 12:30.The first sentence is useful for showing how to specify a time for using 吃午饭.Tatoeba #4857584 by musclegirlxyp, translation #4884188 by joes
- 我现在不想吃午饭。I don't want to eat lunch now.The second sentence is useful for expressing a lack of desire to use 吃午饭 at a specific moment.Tatoeba #472881 by fucongcong, translation #257469 by CK
- 如果你明天有空，我们就可以一起吃午饭了。If you have free time tomorrow, we could eat lunch together.The third sentence is useful for making a suggestion to use 吃午饭 based on someone's availability.Tatoeba #381899 by sysko, translation #7808084 by sharris123
- 1 more sentence on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Two colleagues are talking in the office at noon.
- 伟 Wei梓涵，你想去吃午饭吗？Zǐhán, nǐ xiǎng qù chī wǔfàn ma?Zihan, do you want to go eat lunch?
- 梓涵 Zihan我想去，但是我还有工作。Wǒ xiǎng qù, dànshì wǒ hái yǒu gōngzuò.I want to, but I still have work.
- 伟 Wei那你快点，我们一起去吃午饭。Nà nǐ kuài diǎn, wǒmen yīqǐ qù chī wǔfàn.Then hurry up, let's go eat lunch together.
- 梓涵 Zihan好的，伟，给我五分钟。Hǎo de, Wěi, gěi wǒ wǔ fēnzhōng.Okay, Wei, give me five minutes.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
